2022-10-23 Bulletin

The Cry of the Humble

In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus addressed the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector to those who were convinced of their own righteousness and despised others (Luke 18:9). This parable is a warning against self-righteous pride. In the parable, the Pharisee indeed was a righteous man – he was not greedy, dishonest, nor adulterous, he fasted twice a week and he paid tithes on his whole income. But the problem was that he was prideful for being righteous. In contrast, the tax collector, who dared not even to raise his eyes to heaven, beat his breast and admitted his sinfulness. As a result, the tax collector was justified, but the Pharisee was not.

What does it mean to be justified? The Catechism tells us that justification is not only the remission of sins, but also the sanctification and renewal of the interior man (see CCC 1989). Justification has been merited to us by the Passion of Jesus Christ who offered Himself on the Cross, and whose blood has become the instrument of atonement for the sins of all men (CCC 1992). Justification is a movement from the state of sinfulness to a state of grace; it involves man’s free cooperation with God’s grace, in which he assents to faith and repents of his sins (see CCC 1993).

Looking back at the parable, that the tax collector was justified means that he did not go home only to sin again, but to live a new life in grace that is detached of sin. On the other hand, the Pharisee was not righteous in the eyes of God because of his pride. This parable brings another very important point: Justification comes from the grace of God; it is not earned by man just by doing righteous things. Let us, therefore, never be prideful of our righteous actions. The more righteously we live our lives, the more  humble we should become.  

Another application of this parable is what is called spiritual pride. Spiritual pride is when we think we are better than others spiritually. We not only feel superior to others, we also tend to ridicule or criticize the faith practices of others. For example, some people criticize the way that some people pray the rosary; they immediately conclude that these people are babbling like the pagans (Matthew 6:7). But how can we judge people when we cannot even see what is in their hearts? We fall into the sin of spiritual pride when we think that the way we pray is the best way, and that everyone else should do the same.

Another example is when some people think that they know a lot about the faith because they have studied or read a lot of articles or watched a lot of videos about the bible, the liturgy, Church teaching or their favorite visionaries or devotions. Spiritual pride begins when we compare ourselves with others; we tend to think we are better off than others spiritually. But in this regard, who are we to judge our neighbor? Many saints are in heaven not because of their education or intelligence, but because of their simple but unwavering faith and love.      

Jesus said to the chief priests and elders: “Amen, I say to you, tax collectors and prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31) Let us be very careful of our pride, because it may turn out that when the day of judgment comes, the same people we have criticized or looked down upon may enter heaven way before we do.

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